Corniche Colt Tops Day 1 of OBS March Sale at $1.35M

Legion Bloodstock went to $1.35 million to secure Hip 95, a bay colt by Corniche out of the 2013 Canadian champion 3-year-old filly Leigh Court on Day 1 of the Ocala Breeders' Sales March 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale March 10. Pick View consigned the colt that worked a quarter-mile in :21 during the under-tack show. "He's a beautiful colt. His dad was a champion," said Kristian Villante of Legion Bloodstock. "We've been following him since January. We've been coming down to the farms, and we've seen him in January, and breeze at Joe Pickerell's farm again in February. He's been a standout all year. He's been a standout his whole life. "Joe had to pay up a lot for him as a yearling, and we were fortunate that we had some clients that wanted to step up and try to buy a horse that might be a (Kentucky) Derby kind of colt, and we're hoping he's one of them." "You never have these kind of expectations, but you always hope it's possible with a horse like this," Joe Pickerell said. "We loved him all year; he's never had a bad day. We stretched to buy him and owned him with some great partners, and he showed up and did everything right. Hopefully, he'll be at the big races in about a year from now. "I have two (Corniches), and they're both awesome. They love to train, they're sound, and they seem to thrive off the work. That's something that separates good horses from great horses, and he seems to thrive. Everything we've thrown at him, he's taken it in stride and loves to work. Loves to perform. I feel like he's a horse who is going to have some big things coming." Hip 95 was bred in Kentucky by Speedway Stables and purchased by Pick View for $275,000 at last year's Keeneland September Yearling Sale. Villante said he has been very impressed by the first crop of the 2021 champion 2-year-old male Corniche, who stands at Ashford Stud near Versailles, Ky. "We bought a couple Corniche yearlings, and they're at Travis Durr's farm, and he loves them. So far, they have shown up here. "We actually tried to buy a filly earlier in the day by Corniche. I think he stamped them. There's a lot of Quality Road (Corniche's sire) in these horses. He's just putting out a beautiful horse. I think he should make it; hopefully he does." Villante said the immediate plans for the colt would be for him to head to Durr's training center in South Carolina and eventually be sent to trainer Whit Beckman. "Whit came and saw him last month. We sent him to Joe's farm to see this colt, and he fell in love with him just as we all have," Villante said. "So we were trying not to leave here without him. "We were hoping he didn't cost quite that much, but sometimes you've got to dig a little deeper for horses like that. Buying off Joe definitely helped push us on this one, because he's had a lot of success. He raises a great horse. He's got Breeders' Cup winners, grade 1 winners every year. So, the fact that he came from that camp really gave us the confidence that if we were going to dig a little deeper, this was the one to do it on." Morplay Racing, Marquee Bloodstock Land Nyquist Colt for $1.2 Million Morplay Racing and Marquee Bloodstock went to $1.2 million for Hip 88, a son of Nyquist. The dark bay or brown colt consigned by Wavertree Stables is out of La Extrana Dama (ARG), who is Argentina's champion older mare for 2018 and a six-time group stakes winner. Hip 88 was among the quickest during the under-tack show, going a furlong in :09 4/5. "He just stood out on paper, I loved the Argentinian sturdiness," said Ramiro Restrepo of Marquee Bloodstock. "The racing down there is two turns galore, and obviously, there's a couple of champions in there, which is impressive. And Nyquist, what a season he had last year, and the year before that. He stands above a lot of the horses in this catalog with that sire power, and that's what we were chasing. We've done it a couple years here now, and hopefully we can do it again." Cam Dulgar of Morplay Racing, who campaigned 2025 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1) winner and champion female sprinter Shisospicy, sold a homebred Yaupon colt (Hip 92) for $100,000 right after his big purchase, adding to his excitement. "We dipped our toe into the racing space a few years back with No More Time," Dulgar said. "We've had experience with No More Time, who was second in the Tampa Bay Derby, made it to the (Kentucky) Derby, and ended up, unfortunately, getting injured and prevented us from going. But, we got hooked, and the success we've seen with Shisospicy, we're extremely excited to be able to pick up this colt and hopefully experience something similar. Right now, we're (Kentucky) Derby dreaming, and happy to have hopefully gotten a good horse. "Solid physical, and the way he performed (in the under-tack show), hopefully it carries over. We're super excited to partner with Marquee and some of the guys that he brings on board. We're excited to establish this partnership and do some more stuff in the future." Restrepo said they have not made a final decision on who will train the colt. "These guys have had a fantastic season with Shisospicy and kind of maybe piqued their interest into the racing aspect a little deeper," Restrepo said. "We've had some good fortune the last couple years with a couple runners, Mage and then this weekend with The Puma. That keeps our partners interested in racing, and we collaborated here to try to find ourselves a big horse." Hip 88 was bred in Kentucky by De La Pomme Kentucky and picked up as a yearling by Ange Bloodstock at the 2025 Keeneland September Yearling Sale for $170,000. Day 1 Stats Day 1 saw gains across nearly all metrics, with 144 horses changing hands for gross receipts of $23,149,500, including private sales; a gain of 34% from last year's corresponding session, where 133 horses sold for $17,235,500. The average was up 24% to $160,760, from $129,590, and the median was strong at $90,000, a 20% increase from last year's $75,000. Sixty horses failed to meet their reserve, resulting in an RNA rate of 29%, compared to a 22% rate for 37 horses that failed to meet their reserve last year. "Certainly an excellent day. We had a lot of activity in the barns during the week, expecting that to translate in the auction ring, and it did," OBS president Tom Ventura said. "Hopefully, we can keep that going for the next two days. Everybody here is working hard trying to find a good horse, and the sales results have shown that. You don't want to predict too much moving forward. We've got one day down and two to go. But very happy so far." Eight horses brought $500,000 or more, purchased by eight different entities. The highest-priced filly of the sale was Hip 71, a daughter of WinStar Farm's first-crop sire Nashville, who breezed a furlong in :09 4/5 during the under-tack show. She was purchased for $550,000 by William K. Werner from the RM Stables consignment. Legion Bloodstock led buyers for the day with their single $1.35 million purchase. De Meric Sales topped the consignors, selling nine from their draft for a total of $2,715,000, topped by Hip 132, a colt from the first crop of Gainesway stallion Drain the Clock, who sold for $1.1 million to Pedro Lanz, agent for KAS Stables. Day 2 of the March OBS Sale continues March 11, with hips 273-544 set to head to the ring. As of Tuesday evening, OBS had reported 64 outs.